The Rabbit Hunter

103

The whole valley has vanished in the downpour; it’s as if the church and old railway barracks never existed, just a grey world with no real depth.

Rex and Sammy’s clothes are soaked through and they’re freezing cold when they finally see the outline of the hotel through the driving rain.

DJ, James and Lawrence passed them a while ago, at the gates to the enclosure. The three men hurried ahead and disappeared along the waterlogged track.

When they were halfway back Sammy put his foot down wrong. Now his ankle has started to swell, and he’s limping with his arm around Rex’s shoulders.

‘Dad, wait,’ Sammy says, stopping at the bottom of the steps to the deck.

‘Is it hurting?’

‘It’s not that. I just want to say something before we go in. I said I saw Kent fall, but it... it actually looked more like he jumped.’

‘It could have looked that way,’ Rex says.

‘And there’s something else... he only flashed before me for a moment before he was gone... but I had time to notice his red scarf trailing behind him.’

‘But...’

‘He wasn’t wearing a scarf, was he? It was blood.’

They walk up the steps in silence, then go into the large lobby while they try to figure out how Kent could have been bleeding before he fell.

Maybe he walked up to the cliff-edge and shot himself, Rex thinks.

There are wet footprints on the stone floor of the lobby. Rifles and other equipment are piled on the low coffee table in front of the fireplace.

DJ is standing in the foyer searching the cushions of the sofas and armchairs.

‘Did you call the police?’ Rex asks.

DJ shoots him a dark look.

‘The phones are gone,’ he says.

‘No, we left them at the reception desk,’ Rex says.

‘Then they must have somehow slipped off,’ DJ says, walking behind the desk.

‘Is anyone else here other than us?’ Sammy asks.

Rex shakes his head, shivers and looks over at the windows. The rain is still coursing down the glass.

‘What are we going to do?’ Sammy asks.

‘We need to get you into some dry clothes,’ Rex says.

‘That’ll solve everything,’ Sammy says, walking off towards his room.

‘They’re not here,’ DJ mutters, searching among the papers.

‘Isn’t there a landline?’ Rex asks.

‘No... and the computers need a password,’ he says in a hollow voice.

‘I’ve got an iPad,’ Rex remembers. ‘Do you think there’s Wi-Fi here?’

‘Try it,’ DJ says as he searches behind the desk.

‘Bloody hell,’ Rex sighs, watching Sammy walk off.

DJ stops and looks at him.

‘Is it Sammy?’

‘I’m trying, I... I’ve got so many emotions right now, but of course I understand that he can’t just absorb the fact that I want to be a father to him after all these years...’

Rex stops then walks off, unbuttoning his soaking wet jacket as he heads towards his own suite.

When he opens the door it sounds like someone’s taken a deep breath.

The wind outside might have caused a difference in air pressure, he reasons as he pulls his boots off in the dark hallway.

He walks out into the main room, and has just pulled his jacket off when he realises that someone is standing in the corner behind the lamp.

The yellow lampshade is hiding his face, but he can see light glinting off the blade of a hunting knife.

‘Stay where you are,’ a voice says behind him.

Rex turns and sees James aiming his hunting rifle at him.

‘No sudden movements now,’ he says. ‘Put your hands where I can see them, slowly.’

‘What are you—’

‘I’ll shoot, I’ll shoot you right in the face,’ James yells.

Rex shows his empty hands and tries to figure out what’s going on.

‘Kill him,’ Lawrence whispers from the corner behind the lamp.

‘Where’s your rifle?’ James asks, waving the barrel at him.

‘I left it in some trees,’ Rex replies, trying to sound as calm as possible.

‘And your knife?’ Lawrence hisses. ‘Where’s your knife?’

‘In my belt.’

James takes a step closer and stares at him with a fevered look in his eyes.

‘Loosen your belt and let the knife drop to the floor.’

‘Shoot him instead,’ the other man says, shuffling his feet impatiently.

‘I’m unbuckling it now,’ Rex says gently.

‘If you do anything stupid you’re dead,’ James warns, resting the rifle against his shoulder. ‘I promise you. I’d be only too happy to shoot you.’

‘He killed Kent,’ Lawrence says, in a louder voice.

‘Don’t do anything stupid,’ Rex pleads.

‘Shut up,’ James shouts.

Rex unbuckles his belt and the weight of the hunting knife pulls it onto the floor beside his leg.

‘Kick the knife over here,’ James commands.

Rex kicks the knife, but it rolls only a metre across the carpet before coming to a stop.

‘Kick it again!’ James says impatiently.

Rex moves forward and kicks it harder, sending it over to the armchair.

‘Now back away and get down on your knees,’ James says.

Rex takes a few steps back and kneels down.

‘Shoot him,’ Lawrence repeats. ‘Right in the forehead.’

‘So you seem to think I had something to do with Kent’s death?’ Rex says tentatively.

James marches over and strikes him in the face with the butt of the rifle.

It hits his right eyebrow, his neck jerks and his vision fades for a few seconds. Rex slumps sideways. The pain throbs and burns.

‘You were in our zone!’ James shrieks, holding the barrel to his temple. ‘I’ll shoot. I don’t care what happens...’

‘Shoot him!’ Lawrence calls in a gruff voice.

‘I was looking for Sammy,’ Rex gasps.

‘Where the hell are our phones?’ James asks, pressing the barrel harder against his head.

‘I don’t know. I haven’t touched them,’ Rex replies quickly. ‘But I have an iPad in the suitcase on my bed. We can call for help on that.’

‘Shut up,’ James snorts. ‘You know perfectly well that there’s no fucking Wi-Fi...’

The door opens and someone comes into the room.

‘Dad?’ Sammy calls into the dimly lit suite.

‘Get DJ!’ Rex shouts to his son before the next blow hits him.

He falls onto his back, raises his head and sees that Lawrence has already reached the hallway.

‘Sammy!’ Rex gasps.

Lawrence grabs his son by the hair, drags him across the floor and hits him across the face with the handle of his hunting knife. He forces Sammy down onto his stomach, sits astride him, pulls his head back by the hair and puts the knife to his throat.

James is breathing faster now, and closes his mouth and moistens his lips before standing over Rex, and pressing the rifle to his forehead.

‘This ends here,’ he says. ‘Understand? This ends here. You’re done. Getting your revenge doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make anything better.’

The barrel is shaking and James steadies it by pushing it harder into Rex’s face.

‘We didn’t know what we were doing,’ James goes on. ‘It just happened. We knew it was wrong, but we’re not bad people, we were just young and stupid.’

‘You don’t have to apologise,’ Lawrence shouts at James.

‘What did you do?’ Rex gasps.

‘I’d never rape anyone. It wasn’t me, it was Wille... and the whole fucking school looked the other way. We all knew that, because no one cared what we did in the Rabbit Hole.’

‘You’re talking about Grace?’ Rex says.

‘Shoot him! Now!’ Lawrence pants.

James turns the gun around and hits Rex in the face with the butt several times. The room vanishes with each blow, only to reappear hazily before fading again.

‘Dad!’

Rex hears Sammy scream as more blows strike his face. It’s like something from a different world. His mouth hurts, and one eye. He’s tumbling into darkness. He tries to resist, but loses consciousness.

His head is throbbing when he comes to. His face is sticky with blood, and his wounds are stinging. He can vaguely tell that the men are tearing strips of cloth and tying his arms behind his back. He hears them hunting through his things, and realises that they’re looking for the phones.

‘I’ll go and check the boy’s room,’ he hears Lawrence say.

Rex tries to turn his head to look at Sammy, but he can’t move. He tries to shout, but he can’t get any words out. The only sound that emerges is the bubbling of blood in his throat.